LONDON - Apple has overtaken Google as the world's most valuable brand, ending a four-year reign by the Internet search leader, according to a study by global brands agency Millward Brown. The iPhone and iPad maker's brand is now worth US$153 billion (S$188.2 billion), almost half of Apple's market capitalisation, says the annual BrandZ study of the world's top 100 brands. Apple's portfolio of coveted consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable technology company last year. Mr Peter Walshe, global brands director of Millward Brown, said Apple's meticulous attention to detail, along with an increasing presence of its gadgets in corporate environments, have allowed it to behave differently from other consumer-electronics makers. Mr Walshe said: "Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model," he told Reuters by telephone. "It's ...